ATHLETICS

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 11 July 1925, Page 12

ATHLETICS

NURMI THE WONDER, Some interesting facts have come to hand regarding 'Paavo N m mi, cutgreat Finnish runner. How seriously lie takes running is shown by the La;t that he is planning to make every running record his own from the ban mile to 10 miles, and also the Marathon distance. He does not propose, however, to tackle the big journey cuitn the 1932 Olympia at Los Angeles. He is 27 years of age at the present time, and to plan so far ahead shows he is possessed of unbounded faith in his powers to retain his wonderful running ability, and his intention i s to endeavour to repeat his last Olympic victories, when the 1928 Games come round- at Amsterdam. In the meantime his attack on the various re coins will be watched with interest. He already holds many records. Horn 1,509 metres to 5,000 metres, his mile time being 4.10 2-5, which he hopes to reduce to an even four minutes. His a,im is to endeavour to put up such times as will never be beaten. On the face of it his programme seems too ambitious for any human to achieve, hut, ;l „ the Americans say, “Nurmi is Nurmi ” and there has never been such another. The critics in America consider lie is even greater m his own world than are Dempsey, likleu, and Weissmuller in theirs. One pointer which may suggest the reason _ w Nurmi is placed thus is hi s remarkable reserve power, due to a heart which medical examination has proved to he much smaller than that of the average athlete. Nurmi’s heart, even under stress, beats only 44 to 49 times in a minute The normal heartbeat of a healthy man is 72, while that of an ordinary man who runs to catch his train in the morning records 80 to 10d beat s to the-'minute. Whether Nurmi will get below 1.52 for the half mile remains to be seen, but from a mile upwards those versed in athletics avow he will accomplish his task. His main ambition, however, is the winning of the Olympic Marathon in 1932, which he is planning to do in time which will beat the world’s record of 2.29.40 1-p, set up by C. de Mar in Anierica in 1924. After the Games of 1928 he proposes to stop running races at- les s than 10 miles, and will train for distances rather,than speed.

Whilst Nurmi’s mile time above stated is well known, his intermediate times will he of interest to readers. It was at Stockholm in August, 1923, he accomplished his ff rea t feat of lovveiincr W. G. George’s long standing time of 4.12 3-"- established in 1886. which stood until Tober’s 4.12 3-5 came along about 1912. In this race Edwin Wide of Sweden, set the pace for the first quarter. At half a mile Nurmi dievv level, and thereafter drew gradually away, the times being as follows: Nurmi. Wide. Min. Sec. Min. Sec. Quarter Mile 058 3-5 0 58-U Half Mile -2 14-5 2 J 4-5 Three-quarter Mile 3 6 7-10 3 7 3-10 jy£He ••• - 4 i-0 2-o 413 1-10

Nurmi undoubtedly is in a clas s by himself and neit-xier Kolohmaineiij Conneff, George, Shrubb nor Taber at their prime could have been considered in the same category. He is sft. lOin. in height and weighs lOst, 4lb. ; is slight and fair-haired, and very -ternpermental. U.e lias magnificient thighs and nicely rounded calves, hut there is nothing about him that suggests the superman his times have proved him to be. He is distinctly individualistic, and his methods have been the despair of the American coaches who fear that their charges will copy him. As to his style, _ perhaps the most noticeable feature ig his knee action, which resembles that of a man running down hill. He does not stretch out for the ground as do most, distance runners, and carries his arms high and bent. There is a sharp inbound as his feet strike the ground, and his strong knee spring give s a snap and follow through, which throws the heel higher up -behind than the orthodox method. His whole interest is centred in running, which is his all-absorbing hobby. Part of hi s greatness is. no doubt due to the fact that every item _ of his sport is thought out, and every phase of a forthcoming, race together with the all-important time schedule, carefully planned long beforehand. Just prior to the Paris Olympiad last year Nurmi had broken records at distances from one mile to 10,000 metres (6 miles 376.23 yards), and he had also won the English open steeplechase championship. The Finnish Olympic selection committee, therefore, had a difficult task in deciding the .events iai which Nurmi should run, especially as W. Ritolu had just returned from America with a reputation for winning races around about 10,000 metres. It was eventually decided to enter Nurmi for the 1,500 and 5,000 metres flat, 3,000 metres team race, and the 10,000 cross-country race. He won all four and bettered the Olympic record in three of them. Of the first- five races Nurmi ran in America three were on successive nighfg in New York, Chicago, and New York, his appearances being possible only by rushing from dressing-room to railway station and trusting to the closest of connections at either end of - ’ the 2.000 miles journey. In these five races incidentally he'set up eight new records, ranging from 1,500 to 5,000 metres.